BRITAIN stepped up its crackdown on illegal migrants yesterday — a day after five people drowned in a dinghy disaster.
Home Secretary James Cleverly and his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi are to target popular routes “at source” in a bid to tackle the influx and frustrate traffickers.
They discussed how to close the well-trodden paths through Southern and Eastern Europe and Africa, and Italy’s scheme to process asylum claims in Albania.
It comes after it emerged that around 30 African men stormed the overcrowded death dinghy on Tuesday— only a few hours after MPs passed legislation aimed at sending asylum-seekers to Rwanda for processing.
Sources said the gatecrashers’ arrival rocked the vessel, causing around 50 on board to fall into the icy waters off the French coast.
The group, thought to be Eritrean or Sudanese, insisted on continuing the journey and 58 passengers in all arrived in the UK.
No asylum claims will be allowed until police and the National Crime Agency have quizzed them all.
They face the possibility of being returned to France as part of a criminal investigation, sources say.
The NCA yesterday arrested two Sudanese men aged 19 and 22, and a South Sudanese national, 22, for alleged trafficking.
Writing in The Sun, Mr Cleverly, right, said: “We are not the only country to face the problem of illegal migration. Countries across the globe are also looking for new ways to smash the people smuggling gangs. Illegal migration is a global issue and demands international co-operation.
“Our Rwanda plan is about just that.”
The Refugee Council claimed yesterday that 2,000 people at most will be removed to Rwanda by the end of the year.
It said just 10,000 will be eligible for removal to their own country, while 115,000 will be left in “permanent limbo” — costing an estimated £6.2billion a year in accommodation.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, meanwhile, was blasted for suggesting the migrant crisis was easier to tackle before Brexit.
He said the Dublin Convention permitted the return of individuals to France.
Leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage said only a “small number” of asylum-seekers were sent back under the convention compared with the more than 120,000 to cross the Channel since 2018.
He said: “Clearly, Lord Cameron just wants us to rejoin the EU.”
- RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary said yesterday he would “happily” take on the Rwanda flights if jets were available at the time.